Maldives media offer first-hand accounts

Violent clashes between police and opposition Maldivian Democratic Party(MDP)
protesters continued in the streets of the capital, Malé, on Thursday night,
according to international news reports. You can read CPJ's news alert on
journalists swept up in the unrest--and background on the demonstrations--here,
and some lively discussion on the situation here.

The heat still seems to be on pro-opposition private TV
station Raajje TV. Local newspaper Haveerureports that the country's broadcasting
commission has told them their coverage of the protests is against the
broadcasting code of conduct due to "explicit content." Haveeru did not report on what penalty the station could face for
breaching the code. Zaheena Rasheed, a Minivan
News journalist at the protests, provided CPJ with this account by email:

Raajje TV reporters told me police had kept watch on them
and had been verbally abusive all night. At one point around 3 a.m.,
protesters set fire to a police motorbike. A policeman came looking for
the Raajje TV crew then, and they overheard police in riot gear say "Let's
beat them up, destroy them and the station." That's when they stopped
[their live feed] of the protests.

Calls to Raajje TV reporters rang unanswered, and the
Maldives Broadcasting Commission did not immediately reply to an email sent
this morning. Police have not yet responded to CPJ's request for comment,
emailed Thursday. We are continuing to monitor the situation.

We gathered more responses overnight. Mohamed Ameeth, the DhiTV
presenter whose altercation with MDP protesters we documented, sent us his own
version of events via his personal Twitter
account: "MDP protesters knocked me to the ground, calling me a traitor &
continued beating, until a friend of mine among protesters saved me."

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan's office said in a press
release Thursday that "A number of journalists have been injured by
activists, including a television presenter from private broadcaster DhiTV."
CPJ has faxed and emailed the president seeking comment regarding attacks
carried out by police. We'll let you know what we hear back.

We also reached out to Minivan News, a long-time source for
CPJ, for comment regarding their editorial independence. Here's what JJ
Robinson, the editor, had to say:

Minivan News (the
website) was started by Nasheed's MDP in 2004, together with Minivan Radio and Minivan Daily (a print publication).
Minivan Radio and the paper were essentially propaganda, but at the same time, they
were the first dissident media outlets presenting an opinion other than that of
the autocracy.

Minivan News was
slightly different--it has always been headed by a foreign editor/journalist
with an outside, apolitical perspective, who reports and trains young Maldivian
journalists to cover human rights abuses, corruption cases etc. Pre-2008, this
transparency was politically detrimental to the dictatorship, hence the MDP
backing at the time.

Following the election won by Nasheed, the MDP backing
ceased and the radio and paper folded. Minivan
News, however, by that stage had the country's highest standard of
journalism and was relied upon by the international community. Without
political funding, it was left to survive on its own merits by marketing its
high-value audience and selling banner advertising. It's been a hand-to-mouth
existence, but Minivan News survives
by being a lean, no-frills operation.

So while we are genuinely independent - certainly this is
the most editorial freedom I've ever had in my 10 year journalism career - we
recognize the challenges of our political heritage. All we can do is let the
content speak for itself, always give the opportunity to respond to both
sides regardless of their opinion of us, and let people take us to task in the
comment section where they feel we have erred.

The MDP recently restarting Minivan Daily has been confusing a lot of people. It probably
doesn't help that Nasheed's brother, Nazim Sattar, is still listed as the
'Minivan' editor with the Department of Information from the 2004 days.

Generally speaking though, our approach has worked and our
independence has been validated by our growing audience, which is increasing
50%+ year on year. Ironically, while the former opposition regard us with
suspicion due to our MDP roots, the MDP at times regards us as traitorous for
the very same reason. In fact it's fair to say that our success is measured in
how few friends we have!

Madeline Earp is senior researcher for CPJ’s Asia Program. She has studied Mandarin in China and Taiwan, and graduated with a master’s in East Asian studies from Harvard. Follow her on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.

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